Alduin's POV:
The library, though was no way as large as that of the Archives of the Divines, was still considerable. For the first time, I felt like a puny mouse as I stepped into the room and found myself gawking at the giant pillars that had long stone arch-bridges connecting them at different levels.
However the ground floor was a mess with piles and literal mountains of books everywhere. Walking through the initial mess was hard enough but once in a while, a column of books would lose balance and fall to the ground, potentially covering unwary visitors. I could swear that I must have seen a skeleton under a pile. Oh well, that's how mortals are.
"Welcome to the library. I'm sure the first thing to do to start your research is to check with the librarian. He can help us find a book you want." Maka led me through the mess, not minding at all the apparent disorder. "How many times have you been here?" I had the urge to ask.
"Oh just about every single day….She's always looking for a new weapon for her….you know…." Soul rubbed his head as if he was remembering bad memories. Can't blame him.
The librarian had over-sized cube fingers, along with a small moustache, and walked in a robotic fashion, but I guess on this 'Earth' anything is possible. The librarian immediately recognized as he gave a respectful bow to her and then to me."Hello, Ms Albarn, honored to see that you are still our most regular of visitors. May I present you a list of finest and hardest books that have just came in?" Mortals are served first, huh?
I mentally slapped myself. In the name of Dad, I got to stop thinking like that.
"No thanks. I'm just guiding a new student here. He wants some books on some research he is doing."
"New student and already researching? My my you are a hardworking fellow." The man smiled at me. I glared back. "So I can assume you are 1-star, yes? That will give you access to the first level of the library…."
"Wait…1 star?"
"Oh sorry, I forgot to mention." Maka answered. "We are categorized into 1-star, 2-star and 3-star meisters based on our ability. Most of us are 1-stars, while some people are 2-star. 3-stars are usually teachers. 1-star gets to the 1st level….."
"2-star to second, 3-star to third. No shit, Sherlock." I interrupted. So I guess I'm part of the common rabble. Slap again.
"I guess I'm a bit too forgetful that people can probably figure it out. Ha ha ha…" Maka seemed to have taken it as a joke. Which I clearly did not make. God…
"So...what? I just go up and ask him? And you guys are what? Gonna just sit with me and wait till I'm done?"
"Nah, don't worry. I also need to do some reading while Soul here got to go and see Stein about some detention lessons."
Soul blinked once, and then twice more. "Huh? Was I? When...How...Why...Shit! Catch you guys later!" I watched, amused, as the white-haired boy rushed off.
"Will he live?"
"Probably not."
An awkward silence as we probably brood over what punishment Soul could get. The teacher will probably dissect him when they meet.
"So how may I help you?" The librarian broke in and I was a bit taken by surprise. In our distraction, I had forgotten to think about what sort of books I wanted.
"Erm….erm…." I stammered for a while as I tried to come up with a decent request. "How about...books on Chaos? Do you have them?"
"Chaos? Oh, you mean Chaos theory?" Chaos theory? I've no time for science now!
"I mean literally Chaos. Cha-os with a capital C and no other words. Like gods or astronomical beings, that sort of mythology. Got that?"
"Well….let me remember…." Remember? The librarian can remember every book in this library? Well I'm surprised . For a mortal, such a keen memory is...good, to say the least. I suddenly felt my growing impatience go away, knowing that a mortal here is at least worthy of my time.
"Ah yes! In greek mythology, there is a god called Chaos….And we also have Chaos of Madness. Let me get the books for you."
The librarian quickly retreated into the dark tunnel behind him. How long is going to take? This library could take hours to search through.
But to my pleasant surprise, the librarian was back by a minute and in his somewhat robotic-like hands were held two books, both of tolerable size, I guess.
Twenty minutes later,
Just 20 minutes putting my head into the books and I'm already dead bored. I knew that I wasn't as booky as my brother, but I never expected to be this drastic.
I was into the first book. The Chaos of Madness. It was basically talking about the Kishin, the apparent super-human god of madness that can be achieved by absorbing enough human souls. But there were parts that I was intrigued. Maka herself seemed to be quite knowledgeable of the subject of the Kishin and she described how she got to know Asura, the first Kishin. But she never quite told me what happened to him. When I did try to pursue that, the mortal clammed up. Okay, sensitive topic.
That said, I read on and came upon a small little chapter titled:" The Madness of Chaos." The whole chapter was more theoretical than actually historical. The author gave his theory about how Asura wasn't the first Kishin and that something else spurred him from being a powerful warrior into a dark god of madness.
It sure sounded like something Sheogorath would do but considering the prince of madness is probably a few thousand light-years away, I doubt it.
The author had a rather interesting theory. I admit that much. But the rest was more like superstitious scribbling rather than an actual theory. I left the book to one side, making sure it doesn't get confused in the messy pile beside the table. "Is there a cleaner in this place?" I couldn't help but ask. "Over there…." I turned and looked at Maka's pointed direction. Then I sweat-dropped.
Right there on top of the highest mountain was the ninja boy Black Star. He was laughing so hysterically that I had no idea how I managed to miss him. Instead of cleaning up, the boy was randomly picking up comics and throwing them to the ground after reading them.
"And why is he the cleaner?"
"Detention duty…"
"Shouldn't someone watch him?"
"No one really wants to."
"I see…" Both of us sighed as we ignored Black Star for the rest of our stay. I opened the Greek mythology book. It was not thick, thank goodness for that. Titled simply as "Chaos", I was pretty sure I found what I needed.
A few minutes later, my gut feeling held me through. The Greeks described Chaos as the abyss, as the formless and void state preceding the creation of the universe. In other words, Chaos was indeed a phenomenon.
There were of course some mistakes, a miserable flaw of the mortals. Chaos was also described as the primodial god that looked over the universe and the first of all Gods and Titans. I was rather offended for these mortals to lump us together with him but I guess such tiny beings can't possibly comprehend him.
However, my hopes of simply smashing Chaos when I meet him were drowned as I speed-read on and chanced upon a sentence describing Chaos as the true foundation of reality. If human works can be trusted, basically, I destroy Chaos, reality goes bye-bye. "He can't possibly be that powerful…" I was slightly apprehensive and wondered whether the humans made a mistake.
"Huh? Who?" Maka suddenly hear me talking my mind and was curious.
"Oh nothing….Just talking about the Greek's exaggeration about this 'god' Chaos.." I showed her. She took a few seconds to read it through. Probably the fastest time I've seen a mortal read.
"Why are you researching on him? None of the school teachers would be interested in this stuff." She asked me.
Nice job breaking it, Alduin...
"Well….uh….you see…." I was tongue-tied. Should I tell her the truth? Or should I lie? Would she even believe the truth? Can she, a mortal, even understand?
"Besides, you said that you would tell me how your Voice works, remember? C'mon out with it. I'm curious."
"You…probably wouldn't believe me…"
"Try me!"
Okay, I got to hand it to her; the girl's spunk was impressive, but I was kind of hesitant to tell her anything at all. I knew I can't keep on hiding and so with a gasp of resignation, I finally threw away my doubt and began.
Ten minutes later….
"Wow…wow….that's kinda insane…wow" Maka sat there, dumbfounded. See that! I knew she wouldn't understand.
But she did.
"So you met a dragon? And he taught how to use your voice to create those powerful attacks? By teaching you his ancient language and letting you drink his blood? And then in return he asked you to research on this 'Chaos'?" Okay, maybe it took a little while to sink into her head, despite the intellectual she is.
Hey, don't look at me like that! Well, I did tell her a half-truth. My father was a dragon and he did taught me how to use my voice. As for the drinking blood part, I guess that was when my dad gave me some of his blood to turn me into a God of Time.
"It's…incredible. I mean…you met a dragon. A real live dragon. And Chaos? Why Chaos? Is he talking about the Kishin?"
"No he is not." I kept my cool, trying to play along. "He says that Chaos is returning. And so I needed research to stop him."
"If not Asura, then who is this Chaos? Are you sure about Chaos? I can believe a dragon but something even more powerful than Asura? I mean Asura is capable of bringing chaos to the world. Doesn't that fit the quote "Chaos is returning."" Now the girl seems frightened about something. And I'm getting annoyed trying to convince her.
"Look here, girl…I have travelled all the way here just to research about something that I can just ASK you about! I'm DEAD sure that your lovely ASURA won't be coming back! You know, in Nirn, when there's a threat…." I swallowed my tongue. "Nirn?" Too late. Maka caught it.
"I mean, Earth. Earth."
"No, I'm sure you said Nirn...Alduin, are you from somewhere else?" Yep, Maka was nearly on to me. As she glance at me while remaining deep in thought, I was stuck in a corner, like a rat waiting frightfully as the cat and my impending doom was inching closer with each fleeting second. I was not prepared for my tongue to slip so easily and I'm sure I was seconds away before being labelled with a big fat sticker saying "Alien". Before long, I might find myself being pulled on at my skin, as if I was wearing a second skin for disguise. Hey, at least she can't possibly figure out that I am a Go - Nope, not helping!
As I juggled with two plans to either make a run for it or insist that I said "Earth" and not "Nirn", a familiar bellow suddenly caught my ear for no good reason. "BOORRING!" Black Star seemed to have just picked up a book from the hill he was king of and clearly not interested in it, coincidentally threw it our way. As the book landed a few feet away with a thud, Maka, still waiting for my answer, seemed to pay no attention to it but I did.
The title was: The Time Machine By H.G. Wells (Whoever he is, I owe him a drink.).
"Well?"
"I….I…um….uh…oh hell with it." I decided to stop hiding. "Just don't tell anyone okay? I am from the future. In the future we call Earth Nirn. I am here on a mission to stop Chaos. The void." Okay well maybe I wasn't exactly 'stop hiding' but at least it brought a look of realization on Maka's face.
"You are from the future!" "SHHHH!" I quickly silenced her. "Are you mad? I told you just now to not tell anybody." "Sorry…" She whispered back. Black Star was still there laughing, effectively drowning out any possibility of us being overhead.
Just keep laughing ninja boy.
